2014-global-go-to-think-tank-index-22012015_1

“calls for more think tank transparency grew louder in the US” in late 2013, echoing Nobel Prize
winner Paul Krugman and “a broad range of other commentators from across the political
spectrum” who “have long called on think tanks to reveal their funders.” 94 Although this public
criticism led the Center for American Progress to release a list of its funders, other organizations
such as the Heartland Institute argued for “continued opacity,” citing “donors’ right to
privacy.” 95 Yet these latter organizations are not to be perceived as the exception, as Harvard
University’s Brooke Williams has recently found that one-third of America’s top 50 think tanks
do not disclose their donors.
More critics of think tanks question the motivations behind their policy research. Dr. Gerry
Hassan, a research fellow at the University of the West of Scotland argues that an outright
analysis of the audience think tanks are serving would highlight that think tanks have a vested
interest in catering to corporate interests, accountancy firms, and lobbyists. He critiques that few
of the policies supported by think tanks have aided the general populace. 96 Hassan’s criticism
highlights a general skepticism around the objectivity of think tanks due to their donor’s
influence; however, given the vast array of donors, it would be impossible to tailor research and
advocacy to the demands of all donors.
VII. Hybrid Organization: As think tanks have faced new challenges in the societies in which
they operate, they have adapted and created hybrid institutions. Think tanks inherently occupy
“an intermediate structural position” between academic, political, economic, and media outlets,
and this overlap has often made their precise definition difficult. 97 More and more think tanks are
a blend of organizational types (academic research center, consulting group, marketing firm, and
media outlet) and the roles of key staff have changed as well. The staff of think tank institutions
is “comprised of multifaceted individuals who are part scholar, journalist, marketing executive,
and policy entrepreneur.” 98 Think tank budgets and staffing patterns now place as much
emphasis on policy research as they do on promoting it and the scholars who conduct it. In fact,
the functions that think tanks now assume have become so multi-faceted and heterogeneous that
scholars Donald E. Abelson and Christine M. Carberry note that aside from “acknowledge[ing]
that think tanks are nonprofit, nonpartisan organizations engaged in the study of public policy,
few scholars have outlined other criteria which would allow them to distinguish think tanks from
other types of non-governmental organizations.” 99
94 Krugman, Paul. 2005. Think Tank Transparency. New York Times. http://nyti.ms/1eKJIAw.
95 Yeager, Holly. 2013. Center for American Progress releases donor list. The Washington Post.
http://wapo.st/1dnECHU; Heartland Institute. 2013. Reply to our Critics. The Heartland Institute.
http://bit.ly/1lBSbdF
96 Gerry Hassan, "The Limits of the 'Think Tank' Revolution," Open Democracy, 8 Sept. 2008, accessed
18 May 2014, http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/yes/the-limits-of-the-think-tank-revolution.
97 Medvetz, Tom. "Think Tanks as an Emergent Field." (2008): n. pag. Social Science Research Council.
Web. 23 Oct. 2013.
98 McGann, James “Shanghai and Beijing, China August 2013,” Global Trends and Transitions in Think
Tanks and Policy Advice, Think Tanks & Civil Societies Program, accessed 6 January 2014.
99 Abelson, Donald E., and Christine M. Carberry. 1998. “Following Suit or Falling Behind A
Comparative Analysis of Think Tanks in Canada and the United States.” Canadian Journal of Political
Science 31.3: 525-55. Web.)
32